Central Collegiate Hockey Association

Mike Rucinski's power-play goal 29 seconds into overtime gave Illinois-Chicago (11-14, 10-10) a 4-3 victory over Ohio State (10-11-2, 7-11-2) in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association game at the UIC Pavilion.

A 4-year-old girl was hit in the head by a puck at an Ohio State hockey game and taken to a hospital for stitches, officials said. The girl was injured Saturday night, treated at a hospital and released, a nursing supervisor said Sunday. She didn't have details. Ohio State lost to Ferris State 1-0 in overtime in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoff game. Three years ago, 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil died after being hit in the head by a puck while attending a...

Senior left wing Scott Johnson scored a goal and added two assists to lead Lake Superior State to a 6-4 victory over Illinois-Chicago Saturday in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Pavilion. Vic Stynsky had a goal and an assist for the Soo Lakers (13-6-1, 12-5-1). Mike Rucinski tallied a goal and an assist for the Flames (6-14, 6-12).

This may come as a surprise to die-hard Blackhawks fans: Hockey is alive and well--in Madison, Columbus, Denver and Minneapolis. College hockey. With no thaw in the NHL lockout yet, the college game being played before big crowds in those cities will come to the Allstate Arena on Saturday night when Wisconsin (17-6-1) of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association meets Notre Dame (5-14-5) of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. It's a different brand of hockey than either...

Center Troy Thrun scored three goals, including the winner 11 minutes 25 seconds of the first period, in Western Michigan's 8-1 victory over Illinois- Chicago in Friday's Central Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Pavilion. Left wing Rob Bryden added two for Western Michigan, 16-9 overall and 11-8 in the CCHA. Left wing Tom Almquist scored for Illinois-Chicago (8-16-1, 7-13) at 10:50 of the first period.

Ron Mason, the winningest coach in college hockey history, is stepping aside this week from the job he has held at Michigan State for 23 years. The 62-year-old will become the school's athletic director on July 1. Mason insists he's not emotional about the end of his era behind the bench. "If I was retiring completely, maybe I'd feel differently," Mason said. "But I'm going to continue being at Michigan State. . . . It's going to be a great buffer for me." Mason leaves with an awe-inspiring record of...

The road to this Final Four is an ice-covered expressway. Although the media glare doesn't compare with the razzle-dazzle of basketball's Final Four, crowds in excess of 17,000 a game will be watching in the Bradley Center when they play the NCAA hockey semifinals Thursday and the championship contest Saturday. North Dakota will meet Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival Colorado College in the first semifinal at noon. Defending national champion Michigan of the Central...

Freshman forward Sheldon Gorski scored three goals, his first as a collegian, as Illinois-Chicago downed Ohio State 8-3 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association game Friday at the Pavilion. Gorski, who scored 79 goals last year for a Melville, Canada, junior team, and Jeff Nelson gave the Flames a 2-0 lead after the first period. Gorski added another goal 18 seconds into a five-goal second period for the Flames (1-2, 1-2), who won their home opener. Don Perkins, Mike Nightengale and Andy...

Michigan State had had enough of Illinois-Chicago for one weekend. No more messing around. The heavily favored Spartans, on the brink of elimination in the first round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament after losing the opener of the three-game series to UIC 4-3 Friday, advanced to the quarterfinals Sunday with a convincing 8-3 victory at Munn Ice Arena. UIC (10-27-2) took Michigan State (22-11-5) into overtime Saturday before falling 2-1 on an...

Notre Dame has applied for admission to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, the university and league said Friday. "It's a shot in the arm for our program, a reward for the fans who have supported us-and it's our goal to prove that Notre Dame can play at this level as it has in the past," Irish coach Ric Schafer said. Notre Dame's membership would take effect in 1992-93, the league said. The CCHA will consider the application at its next meeting-in January in Anaheim.

Northwestern basketball stars Kevin Rankin and Moira Kennelly are Academic All-America candidates after being selected to the all-district team. Both are seniors. Rankin, who leads the men in scoring and rebounding, is a history major. Kennelly, who leads the women in steals and assists, is majoring in political science. Playing in the New Mexico State Invitational, the women's softball team downed Oregon State 4-1 and defeated Southern Utah 8-0, behind the no-hit pitching of junior Beverly Stiglbauer.

Illinois-Chicago: The women's basketball team (8-8, 6-3) extended its winning streak to five games Sunday with a 58-46 Mid-Continent Conference victory at Wright State (9-8, 4-5). It was Eileen McMahon's 100th game as UIC coach. Guard Penny Armstrong played the entire game and led the way again with 29 points. Jasmine Strange added 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and continued to be a force on the boards with 10 rebounds. The hockey team (6-19-1, 5-14-1) lost twice...

The largest crowd of the season turned out for Illinois-Chicago's final home hockey game Friday night, but it wasn't inspiration enough for the Flames, who lost 4-2 to Notre Dame at the Pavilion. A crowd of 4,267 saw Notre Dame (10-20-5, 8-16-5) climb three points ahead of UIC (9-24-2, 8-19-2) in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Although UIC dominated play for most of the third period, Notre Dame's Tim Harberts broke a 2-2 tie with 5:27 to play, redirecting a perfect pass from...

Scott Knutson scored with 3 seconds left in the second period Saturday to give Illinois-Chicago a 3-2 victory over Michigan State in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association game before 2,439 at the Pavilion. Mike Donnelly gave Michigan State a 1-0 lead in the opening period. But the Flames answered with second-period goals by Jeff Nelson and Rob Klenk, with a goal by the Spartans` Don McSween in between. Brad Ryan stopped 31 shots and held the Spartans scoreless in the third...

Lake Superior State, NCAA hockey champion two years ago and runner-up last season, faces off against UIC (2-11-1, 1-6-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Pavilion. Lake Superior is 10-4 overall and 7-4 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Mark Zdan was named UIC's player of the week for the fourth week in a row. The junior winger has 14 points in the last eight games. He scored the tying goal in Saturday's 2-2 tie at Notre Dame. The women's swimming team placed fourth Saturday at the Wheaton...

Illinois-Chicago: The women's basketball team (8-10, 6-4), whose winning streak ended at five games last Tuesday in a 76-69 loss to De Paul, lost 87-78 Saturday to Valparaiso, the No. 1 scoring women's team in the Mid-Continent Conference. Guard Penny Armstrong led four Flames in double figures with 25 points, but hit just 8 of 23 shots. UIC shot only 35 percent. The hockey team had a gut-wrenching finish Friday night after getting off to a great start at Bowling...